Post by Allan on Aug 14, 2007 17:18:51 GMT -5
Jack Parsons:
~1-an of Science, Man of Ma~ic
by Denise Dumars
F tJo-mis a two-edged sword of which one edge is liberty and the
rl~-~ responsibility; on which both edges are exceedingly sharp, and
"lr --his not easilyhandled bycasual, cowardly,or treacheroushands.
-Jack Parsons
".
., Parsons was cofounder of NASA'sJet Propulsion Labora-
JPL),; he invented solid rocket. fuel. He is a pivotal figure
history of southern California's aerospace industry, and on
Ci-orkside of the Moon there is a crater that bears his name.
-ear on Halloween, JPL holds a "Nativity Day" honoring
, ~rlhis inventions.
:. ;his the same Jack Parsons who was a follower of Aleister
:- and who tried to create a homunculus, or a magical
",',110was this mystery man of science-and of magic? His
a the age of thirty-seven is as mysterlous as was his life,
~ ..-asvery mysterious indeed. Born in 1914 as Marvel Whiteside
Parsons, he could
not have had a
more appropriate
name for magic,
though he later
changed his name
to John W. Parsons
and was known to
friends as 'jack."
The reason for the
name change is
that his mother
left his father, the
original "MarVel"
Paisons, and she
raised her son to
-
loaIhe his allegedly adulterous father. Parsons spent the rest of
his life ,\ith an admitted "Oedipal complex" and an unconscious
desire to find a father figure. .
And find one, he did-in Aleister Crowley. He ran across one
of the aging occultist's books at a friend's house and immediately
decided to become a member of Crowley's magical lodge, the
famed Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO). Eventually Parsons began a
correspondence with Crowley, who saw him as a very promising
student. Parsons, however, did not follow OTO degrees of initiation
to the letter. He always improvised on his rituals, and he
sometimes gave himself "degrees" not granted by the organization.
Perhaps this was his way of substituting his magical degrees
for the university degree he never completed.
Parsons called Crowley "father," but Crowley became disenchanted
with p'arsons' recklessness in pursuit of magical goals. He
warned Parsons more than once that the magic he was working
might have dangerous consequences. During one magical working,
a roof in another part of Parsons' property caught fire. Parsons
said that every time he did a ritual, something vanished from
his home. Of cour~e, these events could have a, more prosaic
cause for this: Parsons ran his house like a commune or artists'
colony, accepting very idiosyncratic people as boarders.
Meanwhile, Parsons' leaps offaith about science were paying
off. His genius was widely known; he and his friends were allowed
a lab at CalTech even though Parsons had no affiliation with the
school. Parsons had attended Pasadena City College and the University
of Southern California, but he did not graduate. Bis group
was called the "Suicide Squad" due to its reckless use of high
explosives. This nickname would prove, unfortunately, prophetic.
Parsons befriended numerous men as mentors in the magical
realm. One of his earliest took up with Parsons' wife. He lost his
next girlfriend (and a sum of money) to L. Ron Hubbard.
Science fiction had fueled Parsons' imagination since childhood,
and in both his professional and avocationallife he looked
to science-fiction writers as his inspiration. He attended meetings
of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society (LASFS), and at leasl
two science fiction writers used 'Parsons as model for characters.
On display in the Smithsonian is Parsons' original jet-Assisted.
Take~off (JATL) canister, the invention that gained him fame and.
,~..
hort-time, fortune. Parsons' success did not last long after
.-~ -: and it is perhaps not surprising that he was a victim of
,III!!- byism's "witch hunts." However, it was not his celebrated
lIIIO£..: excess that caused his government security clearance to
-~ :::.ked;rather, it was the fact that he .had friends affiliated
-:.':eCommunist Party. Parsons eventually got his security
:&:::ceback, only to lose it again near the end of his life.
~"::.at of the magical child? At one point, Parsons began an
.:,ro magical working called the "B.abalon project." In the
:.: this, a young artist named Cameron showed up. Parsons
~ediately smitten with her and felt at first that she was the
~goddess-figure Babalon. According to people who knew
:Lple, for a time Parsons and Cameron attempted to create
~.~ child through an elemental spirit. However, Cameron
11-d::ildren until she remarried after Parsons' death.
<-=-:.me 17, 1952, Parsons and Cameron were pa~king for a
\~exico. Parsons was in his garage when a tremendous
-'~ occurred. The blast was heard blocks away and shat-.
.,¥"~::>ws in the neighborhood: Parsons himself was engulfed
l1e~.,and the explosion blew off his right arm, broke his
~ and both legs, and tore a hole through his jaw. Incredr-
oilS was awake and aware when help arrived. He died at
'~~n Memorial Hospital thirty-seven minutes after 'the
~ When Parsons' mother heard of his death, she com-
- ;.;..::::ddein front of a horrified wheelchair-bound house-
- ~"aSunable to stop her.
t",. ~' death was ruled an accident by the Pasadena police.
:nrccnzed that he had dropped a canister of fulminate of
r "',1llle it is true that he stored explosives in the garage,
~ ~tis unlikely that he would be so careless,in handing
".-BlI:' 5peculated that he might have been murdered.
!.~""hboth Parsons' life and death were tainted by scandal,
~-t.able figure remains an indelible part of southern Cal-
1_Y~ryand the development of the U.S. space program.
III : i magical writings have not seen print, save for a slim
II"-'~:.ed by his former wife in 1989. Subsequent publication. . ~s may prove whether his magical experiments were
~ .. ~ the occult community as his inventions were to the
~1-an of Science, Man of Ma~ic
by Denise Dumars
F tJo-mis a two-edged sword of which one edge is liberty and the
rl~-~ responsibility; on which both edges are exceedingly sharp, and
"lr --his not easilyhandled bycasual, cowardly,or treacheroushands.
-Jack Parsons
".
., Parsons was cofounder of NASA'sJet Propulsion Labora-
JPL),; he invented solid rocket. fuel. He is a pivotal figure
history of southern California's aerospace industry, and on
Ci-orkside of the Moon there is a crater that bears his name.
-ear on Halloween, JPL holds a "Nativity Day" honoring
, ~rlhis inventions.
:. ;his the same Jack Parsons who was a follower of Aleister
:- and who tried to create a homunculus, or a magical
",',110was this mystery man of science-and of magic? His
a the age of thirty-seven is as mysterlous as was his life,
~ ..-asvery mysterious indeed. Born in 1914 as Marvel Whiteside
Parsons, he could
not have had a
more appropriate
name for magic,
though he later
changed his name
to John W. Parsons
and was known to
friends as 'jack."
The reason for the
name change is
that his mother
left his father, the
original "MarVel"
Paisons, and she
raised her son to
-
loaIhe his allegedly adulterous father. Parsons spent the rest of
his life ,\ith an admitted "Oedipal complex" and an unconscious
desire to find a father figure. .
And find one, he did-in Aleister Crowley. He ran across one
of the aging occultist's books at a friend's house and immediately
decided to become a member of Crowley's magical lodge, the
famed Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO). Eventually Parsons began a
correspondence with Crowley, who saw him as a very promising
student. Parsons, however, did not follow OTO degrees of initiation
to the letter. He always improvised on his rituals, and he
sometimes gave himself "degrees" not granted by the organization.
Perhaps this was his way of substituting his magical degrees
for the university degree he never completed.
Parsons called Crowley "father," but Crowley became disenchanted
with p'arsons' recklessness in pursuit of magical goals. He
warned Parsons more than once that the magic he was working
might have dangerous consequences. During one magical working,
a roof in another part of Parsons' property caught fire. Parsons
said that every time he did a ritual, something vanished from
his home. Of cour~e, these events could have a, more prosaic
cause for this: Parsons ran his house like a commune or artists'
colony, accepting very idiosyncratic people as boarders.
Meanwhile, Parsons' leaps offaith about science were paying
off. His genius was widely known; he and his friends were allowed
a lab at CalTech even though Parsons had no affiliation with the
school. Parsons had attended Pasadena City College and the University
of Southern California, but he did not graduate. Bis group
was called the "Suicide Squad" due to its reckless use of high
explosives. This nickname would prove, unfortunately, prophetic.
Parsons befriended numerous men as mentors in the magical
realm. One of his earliest took up with Parsons' wife. He lost his
next girlfriend (and a sum of money) to L. Ron Hubbard.
Science fiction had fueled Parsons' imagination since childhood,
and in both his professional and avocationallife he looked
to science-fiction writers as his inspiration. He attended meetings
of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society (LASFS), and at leasl
two science fiction writers used 'Parsons as model for characters.
On display in the Smithsonian is Parsons' original jet-Assisted.
Take~off (JATL) canister, the invention that gained him fame and.
,~..
hort-time, fortune. Parsons' success did not last long after
.-~ -: and it is perhaps not surprising that he was a victim of
,III!!- byism's "witch hunts." However, it was not his celebrated
lIIIO£..: excess that caused his government security clearance to
-~ :::.ked;rather, it was the fact that he .had friends affiliated
-:.':eCommunist Party. Parsons eventually got his security
:&:::ceback, only to lose it again near the end of his life.
~"::.at of the magical child? At one point, Parsons began an
.:,ro magical working called the "B.abalon project." In the
:.: this, a young artist named Cameron showed up. Parsons
~ediately smitten with her and felt at first that she was the
~goddess-figure Babalon. According to people who knew
:Lple, for a time Parsons and Cameron attempted to create
~.~ child through an elemental spirit. However, Cameron
11-d::ildren until she remarried after Parsons' death.
<-=-:.me 17, 1952, Parsons and Cameron were pa~king for a
\~exico. Parsons was in his garage when a tremendous
-'~ occurred. The blast was heard blocks away and shat-.
.,¥"~::>ws in the neighborhood: Parsons himself was engulfed
l1e~.,and the explosion blew off his right arm, broke his
~ and both legs, and tore a hole through his jaw. Incredr-
oilS was awake and aware when help arrived. He died at
'~~n Memorial Hospital thirty-seven minutes after 'the
~ When Parsons' mother heard of his death, she com-
- ;.;..::::ddein front of a horrified wheelchair-bound house-
- ~"aSunable to stop her.
t",. ~' death was ruled an accident by the Pasadena police.
:nrccnzed that he had dropped a canister of fulminate of
r "',1llle it is true that he stored explosives in the garage,
~ ~tis unlikely that he would be so careless,in handing
".-BlI:' 5peculated that he might have been murdered.
!.~""hboth Parsons' life and death were tainted by scandal,
~-t.able figure remains an indelible part of southern Cal-
1_Y~ryand the development of the U.S. space program.
III : i magical writings have not seen print, save for a slim
II"-'~:.ed by his former wife in 1989. Subsequent publication. . ~s may prove whether his magical experiments were
~ .. ~ the occult community as his inventions were to the